27 US Senators Appealed To Obama To Halt Funding To A Unified Fatah-Hamas Palestinian Authority Government

The Jerusalem Post reports that "twenty-seven US Senators appealed on Friday to President Barack Obama to halt funding to a unified Fatah-Hamas government that refuses to renounce terrorism or recognize Israel... The letter, signed by mostly Democratic senators, was organized by Senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania... Leading members of the House of Representatives, such as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have similarly spoken out. But the Obama administration has taken no action on the matter to date."

“It is imperative for you to make clear to [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas that Palestinian Authority participation in a unity government with an unreformed Hamas will jeopardize its relationship with the United States, including its receipt of US aid,” the senators said in a letter they sent to Obama.

“As you are aware, US law prohibited aid from being provided to a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the government and all its members have publicly committed to the Quartet principles,” the senators wrote. Tweet